stuck in the middle...

compare and contrast: gynaecologists

In Australia, the gyno will happily take care of all your prenatal and delivery needs. Except for any blood tests or ultrasounds. For those, you'll have to go off site.

In Germany, your blood tests and ultrasounds will all be done right at the gyno's office....attend your delivery? Why on earth would he do that?

In Germany, you remove all clothing from the lower half of your body, walk across the room, hoick yourself up into the stirrups, and wait for large, cold objects to be shoved into you.

In Australia, you are given a hospital gown, and then the ultrasound technician, very discreetly, says "I'll just give you some privacy to change." After which, presumably, she comes back into the room and sticks large, cold objects into all the body parts she's carefully not noticing yet....at least, I assume so, if I hadn't snorted, told her about Germany, and stripped off right in front of her.

We were given a very funny book called "My Dog, My Cat, My Mum, and Me" to help our sprog get the idea of mother-hides-then-tiny-things-are-there... if you grew up with Bob Graham, you'll like it. :)

'Time to adjust and be excited when it arrives'....what, because you need to spend the next 6 months saying "it's going to be a BOY/ GIRL when it comes out!", so you/ people in general aren't surprised; and the arrival won't be exciting if it's of unknown sex? It'll be a baby in any case- I've never understood why people want to ruin this one big secret which only modern science can give away. Baby doesn't care what clothes you'll dress it in, or what colour pram it has, or what toys it has, or what name it's called before it's born. :-)

Time to adjust because I have preferences. If I didn't care which it was, I'd wait and see - because I don't care what clothes/toys/etc it has either. But I'd prefer one option, and if it's the other, I don't want to meet them and go "Oh... damn."

If I have time to prepare, I can be excited to meet my awesome kid, having got over the disappointing bit in advance.

Oh okay. Glad to hear you're not of the "But a boy can't sleep in his sister's purple room!/ A girl can't wear a blue onesie!" persuasion, like people I have known. They repainted the entire nursery, whole new set of everything. I don't think the newborn noticed, tbh.

I find it strange to think someone could be disappointed in their kid's sex, when what's done is done. I'd rather say "oh, a ---", as I did, and then cuddle the squishy thing and not worry about it not being a ---, just that it was healthy, than have found out a few months in, and possibly have frowned/ felt unhappy with something the kid could do nothing for, and I couldn't change. I think finding out you're having 'your preferred sex' is great, lots of happy months ahead...but what if it's not? Finding out it's not, and then having sad thoughts at the bub inside you for so long, when you've not seen or met it...I dunno, seems unfair. Probably just me.Each to their own, I guess. Hopefully the bub you see on the scan is the type you're hoping for, so you don't feel negative about it.